How Babies Communicate

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How Babies Communicate

Believe it or not, babies are communicating with us from the moment they are born and I’m not just referring to crying. Babies use sounds, facial expressions and movements to tell us how they feel. Even two-pound premature babies in the neonatal intensive care unit are beginning to communicate.

Of course, babies this young are not communicating with intention, or using “intentional communication,” however they are using “reflexive communication.”

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Reflexive communication is involuntary movements, sounds, or facial expressions in response to pleasure or discomfort.

Babies typically show signs of overstimulation or stress in their body movements and bodily functions to let us know when they need a break. Signs of stress in a newborn baby include extending arms and splaying fingers, holding legs out straight, arching back, and turning their head away. Some more discreet signs of stress can be excessive hiccupping, yawning or sneezing.

These are all ways that babies are telling us they need some time to re-group. Even if your baby is not crying, he may be trying to send you cues that he is in need of a break from all the action. If you see two or three of these signs at once, maybe swaddle your baby. Also, hold her close so she can feel safe and calm again like she felt in the womb.

By approximately six weeks, babies begin to smile in response to pleasure and connection with others. As younger babies seem to smile. It is usually just a grimace, but by six weeks, babies can recognize pleasure and respond to it intentionally. By three to four months, babies are typically laughing out loud. Try to make your baby laugh every day. Just like adults, laughing releases endorphins in babies, boosting their mood.

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Usually by six months babies begin to babble, producing more complex sounds. This is the beginning of intentional communication. It is important that parents respond to baby’s communication to start the back and forth that is so important for early development. A recent study out of Harvard and MIT found that the back and forth interactions between babies and caregivers is the strongest predictor of future language and academic skills, so keep those interactions going all day long.

Be responsive to your baby’s communication.

What is she looking at, reaching for, and showing interest in. Allow her to touch what interests her, then talk about it. Ask her what it feels like, explain what it is and demonstrate how it is used. This will encourage her natural born sense of curiosity and wonder and lay the foundation for new exploration, building those important brain cells.

By as early as five months babies learn that their babbles elicit a response from their parents and care-givers. This is significant because they know that their sounds have a social effect. By six months, babies typically have the ability to follow mommy or daddy’s gaze and take interest in whatever mommy or daddy are looking at. This is an important skill in communication, cognition and behavior. Exercising this skill helps babies learn social referencing which is the ability for babies to look to parents for information on how to interpret situations. Some studies have found that gaze following at ten months predicts children’s vocabularies at 2 years old.

Simply by following your baby’s lead and showing interest in what she is interested in, you are helping her learn about her world and building important brain connections.

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Aimee Ketchum is a pediatric occupational therapist and has been working in pediatrics for 18 years. She is currently pursuing her doctorate at Philadelphia University and lives in Lititz, PA with her husband and two daughters. She enjoys running marathons and half-marathons and directing elementary school musicals in her spare time. Ketchum is also the owner/operator of Aimee’s Babies LLC, a child development company.